Patterned paper and method of making the same



May 7, 1929.

v E. D. LAKE PATTERNED PAPER AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 26, 1926 INVENTOE 545M026" 4 k5 arm HIS ATmQ/VEK Patented May 7, 1929.

UNITED STATES ELSMOBE D. LAKE, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

PATTEBNED PAPER AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed April 26,

My invention relates to waxed paper, and especially to a waxed paper having surface ornament or design appearing thereon.

One of the objects of my invention is the production of a waxed paper sheet in which the saturant or coating material over selected areas has been so changed as to render those areas substantially opaque.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a method for producing such opaque areas by mere mechanical changes in the satu-' rant material.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and cheap figured waxed paper and a method of making the same.

My invention possesses other objects and features of advantage some of which with the foregoing will be set forth in the follow ng description ofvthe preferred form of my 1nvention which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and formin part of the specification. It is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the showing made by said drawings and description, as I may adopt variations of the preferred form within the scope of my invention as set forth 1n the claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of an apparatus for impregnating and treating waxed paper in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view thru one end of the brine-cooled roll forming the platen roll of the apparatus.

There has been a long-felt want, espec1ally in the food-products industries, for a more satisfactory method of forming designs. on waxed pa er. It has been common practice either to orm the necessary designs on some underlying or attached unwaxed paper, or to print upon the paper before waxing 1t. There are objections to either procedure, not

I the least of which are the costs of such added design. In attemptin to evolve a satisfactory method for formlng designs on waxed paper I discovered that difi'erences in the arrangement of microscopic particles of the wax itself over selected areas may be effected and can be utilized to produce a design.

In terms of broad inclusion my invention comprises altering the internal texture or structure and or the surface condition 1 wax in selected areas of asheet of paper so asto alter its refraction, abso r p. and/or reflection of light. Ordinani AQII 1926. Serial No. 104,679.

waxed paper is not pierced by the disturbance of the saturant and therefore retains its lmperviousness to moisture. The treated areas become substantially opa us and White, ornearly so, and are set oif from the surrounding untreated areas as tho printed in white ink. I am not wholly satisfied that I understand the phenomena involved but think the enhanced visibility of the treated areas is due solely to the mechanical alteration or rearrangement of microscopic particles which diffuse the rays of light instead of passing or reflecting them in orderly manner.

Results of a certain quality can be secured by mere pressure of the waxed paper at ordinary temperatures between a platen having a finely granulated or roughened surface and a die bearing the desired attern. The defect in this method however 1s that with the finest of granulations, the disturbance of the saturant involves too large particles. I prefer a method which reaches and afli'ects microscopic particles and this I am able to do by imposing conditions of temperature and pressure upon the sheet of base material immedilsgtelly after its emergence from the saturant In Figure 1 I have shown in diagrammatic form an apparatus for making figured waxed paper embodying my invention. Thepaper web 2 is led in the usual'way from the supply roll 3, over suitable guide rolls 4 and 5 thru the bath 6 of saturant'material and up between the squeeze rolls 7. This portion of the apparatus has been in common use for many years to saturate a paper web with wax, and may be passed over here with bare mention. From 1 the squeeze rolls, the web 2, while still hot and with the wax soft, passes upon a platen roll 8, having a smooth surface and cooled by the brine 9 which is circulated thru the roll by well known devices including the pipes 11 connected to the end of the hollow shaft 12 which forms the journal for the 160 roll. A gear 13 on the journal meshes'with a similar gear fixed for rotation with the die roli, 3.6., having one or more dies 17 arranged thereon to contact with the waxed paper on the platen roll. These dies may bear any desired pattern inciuding letters and figures and differ in no essential respect from a plate used for printing.

The warm paper with the wax satursnt and/or coating still soft passes simultaneously upon the cooled platen roll and under die. That portion of the raturant and coating not in contact with the die is cooled in orderly array, that is, the material hardens in accordance with its natural characteristics and the paper over these areas is trans-' lucent or transparent according to the nature of the base sheet and the degree of saturation or amount of coatin The areas which are engaged by the die, however, are cooled and hardened but emerge from the die practically white or opaque, the particles appearing over these areas to be disarranged or at least arranged difi'erently, so that light is difiused by these areas and the become sharply defined, whether in broa masses or a pattern of the most delicate tracery. I

From the platen roll 8, the web of patterned paper passes preferably to and around a second cooling roll 18, which thoroly sets or hardens the saturant and coating material, and thence to the mandrel 19 where it is wound up into a roll.

The design thus placed upon the paper by changing the mechanical structure or texture of the saturant and/0r coating over selected areas is fixed for all normal and usual conditions, and the impervious characteristics of the sheet are not affected at the opaque areas. The design however disappears at a temperature suificient to melt the wax, and this fact may be taken advantage of to modify the process just explained under certain conditions. For example, the web may be patterned over its entire surface with a background design of intricate close character, or it ma be rendered entirely opaque by making the ies 17 coincident with the die roll 16. Then subsequently, the sheet may be passed quickly under a hot die bearing a name or desi the hot die melting the material of the coating and saturant over the areas touched by it, which then cools in orderly manner so that these areas become transparent or translucent. This may even be done by application of a hand operated die.

By passing a sheet patterned by my process over a hot roll, the pattern is entirely removed and the sheet reassumes the transparent or translucent character which it would have had if not treated. These characteristics and possibilities of my process give a flexibility to its use entirely foreignto a printed product and permit a wide range of alteration and adaptability to varying conditions.

It will be understood from the above that designs of any character may be imposed upon the waxed sheet without adding to or taking from it; and since the apparatus required in addition to that needed for the making of the plain sheet is of the most simple character, it will be seen that my process may be practiced with but a small initial expense for equipment and no operating costs whatever.

It is to be noted too that my process may be combined with the color printing as now. commonly practiced and that when so combined it permits a four-color job to'be produced with the equipment now used for threecolor work. In doing this the printing in three colors is done in the usual way on the unwaxed paper. The fourth color, white, is

then added by my process, following the waxing of the printed base sheet.

I claim:

1. The method of making a paper sheet which comprises treating the sheet with a hot wax which normally renders the sheet transparent, cooling certain areas of the sheet and subjecting other areas to pressure at the moment of cooling.

2. The method of making a patterned paper sheet which comprises treating the sheet with heated molten wax and imposing conditions of temperature and pressure on the sheet while hot to produce areas thereon of differing visibility.

3. The method of forming designs on Waxed paper which comprises applying a die bearing the design to the waxed paper while hot and simultaneously cooling the paper.

4. The method of changing the appearance of wax on waxed paper which comprises applying a die to the waxed paper while hot and simultaneously cooling the paper.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

ELSMORE D. LAKE. 

